


Say So

by EdibleNonsense



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Angst, Brief Violence but not really, Canon Compliant, F/M, Hidden Romantic Feelings, Swearing, Training, blonde Launch, for once, hidden on purpose for a reason, why can’t I just write straight up romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:02:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23320624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EdibleNonsense/pseuds/EdibleNonsense
Summary: Not every interruption in Tien's daily routine is unwanted.
Relationships: Launch/Tenshinhan (Dragon Ball)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 16





	Say So

“Oh, come on,” she muttered under her breath. 

With the sound of her leather boots hidden by the roar of the steady torrent of water cascading down the rocks, she walked up to the figure she had spotted on her climb up the hill. There he was, as calm as ever. Sitting flat on the rocky ground, legs crossed and hands at his sides with his fingers gently curled in in his typical meditative pose.

It had been the same every day she happened to pop in on the two. Most of the time nowadays, Chiaotzu wasn’t even with him out here. 

_Hmm. Wonder if he got tired of this training shit, too…_ she thought with a weary internal laugh. It was unlikely, considering how eager he was to go along with whatever Tien said, but a girl could dream. 

Right hand resting casually on her hip, she wandered even closer to him, still taking care to hold onto the cloth sack with her few sparse belongings slung over her shoulder. But now that she was standing only a few feet away, the frown she had been wearing deepened at the corner of her mouth. Usually he would have turned around by now, giving her at least a cursory glance or signal that he saw her approach. 

_Does he... really not notice me? What the hell?_

A small flash of annoyance washed over her before a certain remedy to the situation popped into her mind. In a split second, her mouth curved upwards into a mischievous grin. That could work. In fact, that could work really well. 

Dropping her patched bag unceremoniously on the ground, she bent at the knees and tentatively stepped forward. One foot, then the other. Staying directly parallel to his back, she crept closer and closer, making sure to steady her breath just in case.

Then, as soon as she was within reach, she jumped forward, encircling one arm around his neck and securing her wrist with her opposite elbow in a light chokehold. 

“Gotcha,” she gleefully called out. Under her grasp, she felt his neck instantly tense up and saw him snap his eyes open.

But in a flash, she felt something warm grab her and haul her forward. With no warning, suddenly she was lying flat on the stony surface in front of him, wind completely knocked out of her. Sharply sucking in air, her mind tried to catch up to what had just happened to her body while she stared at the now-blindingly bright sun streaming down overhead.

“Launch!” The panic in Tien’s voice was palpable. “I thought—” 

She felt two hands gently grasping both her shoulders, helping her stand up. As soon as she was on her feet, he promptly backed away from her, mouth set in a grim line.

Taking notice of his face, she shot out, “D-Don’t look so serious, I did sneak up on ya.” With a scoff, she added, “Plus, that was nothin’.” 

She remembered beating the shit out of grown men his size before. Granted, they didn’t have any martial arts training, but it wasn’t like she couldn’t hold her own if she really wanted to. It just took a few good punches and knowing when to duck and weave. She knew she could take a few hits too; obviously, not as many as they could but still. And when you had a variety of guns and bazookas stored in a capsule at all times, you typically didn’t need to last too long empty-handed. 

Instead of cracking a grin, he just stared silently back at her with the same deadly serious expression as before then shook his head almost imperceptibly side to side. “No, that was my fault for overreacting. Sorry.” 

_It’s like he thinks I’m made of glass or something,_ she thought with a bit of exasperation. _He’s not even standing near me._

“Seriously, it’s fine! Stop frownin’,” she playfully commanded, giving him a quick tap on the shoulder with her balled up fist. He didn’t move or react in the slightest. 

Some unknown emotion sprung up inside her. 

A little more serious this time, she goaded him with a small scoff. “C’mon!” 

Still, the same narrowed eyes. The emotion bubbled over the surface.

Then, not thinking beyond pure instinct, she stuck her foot out and caught his right ankle. Yanking it forward to set him off-balance, she made him stumble to the dirt backwards, as she knelt and swung her legs over. She was promptly leaning against his torso, pinning him to the ground. 

“See?” she said triumphantly, slightly out of breath as she stared down at him.

He sat staring back up at her with large unblinking eyes. With her forearm resting against him, she could feel his heart beating slightly through the thin fabric of his t-shirt. Instead of just lifting her off completely or even shrugging enough to get her roll to the side, he sat just watching her. 

“Well, now we’re even,” she finally said, giving him one last slap on the shoulder before hopping back up. He slowly got to his feet, resting his hand briefly on his knee as he stood, and then finally opened his mouth.

“If you want to catch someone off-guard, you need to focus on using less obvious tactics,” he stated with a small hint of amusement laced in his voice.

Shaking the dust from the ground off her hands, she looked at him sideways. “Well, I was just goin’ off instinct.” 

“I know,” he stated simply. He dusted himself off as he continued to speak. “But martial arts isn’t the same as a street fight.”

Eyebrows furrowed, she quipped, “Oh, you and everyone else don’t fight dirty once ya learn martial arts?”

He kept on talking as if he hadn’t heard the note of annoyance in her voice. “You can’t expect your opponents to counter in an obvious way, like pulling back to throw a direct punch.” Casually turning around to glance at the waterfall roaring behind them, he added, “And you can’t count on using weapons.” 

“Well, those things work perfectly fine for defendin’ yourself against the vast majority of people,” she shot back, crossing her arms.

It wasn’t like she had any interest in challenging anyone she couldn’t beat, anyway. The big leagues, the contestants in the Tournaments, the really powerful guys crawling around the earth— they were never an option for her. She wasn’t stupid. 

“True. But there are also plenty of fighters out there who have an edge over purely physical brawling,” he stated slowly and pointedly, staring her dead in the eyes. 

She had a feeling she knew what he was hinting at. “I know, I know. Ki and all that bullshit. I know that’s what most of the stronger guys use, but there’s plenty you can do to kick ass one-on-one. And it doesn’t take a genius to do it.” 

“It doesn’t take a genius to use ki, either,” he quietly added, hands clasped behind his back. “If you really want to.”

For once, she had nothing to say. It was a concept she had never really thought about seriously before. Sure, she saw Goku, Krillin, Yamcha, and the rest of them all use it and train day in and day out. But something about learning to use ki never appealed to her enough to do anything about it. Maybe it was the tangibleness of a cold hard shotgun in her hand or the fact she didn’t want to interrupt their already-ironclad trio, preferring to spend time alone or with Bulma. Or maybe it just never seemed like a real option, for some reason or another. 

“Mmmhh.” She made a small thoughtful noise, but kept her eyes locked on the ground to the right of where he was standing, not wanting to look up just yet. 

“Not that you should feel pressured,” he suddenly added, almost like something had just occurred to him. “I understand if you don’t feel comfortable… learning it.”

“I mean… I’ll, uh, think about it.” _And I’m actually telling the truth about promising that for once,_ she thought with a small smirk. “I could probably pick up some tips from Roshi. Just gotta swing by Kame House and I’d be mostly set after a while there, I bet.”

Tien blinked a few times. Opening his mouth slightly, he almost seemed like he wanted to say something, but instead simply exhaled quietly. Staring down at the rushing water behind her, he stated evenly, “Roshi’s very skilled. That makes sense.” 

“Yeah. I mean, I figure if he can whip those three jokers into shape, then he can help anyone, huh?” she joked with a low chuckle, wondering in the back of her mind why he suddenly seemed so dour. Maybe this subject brought back bad memories of that old assassin school he was in or something. 

A ghost of a smile passed his lips. “Yes, that is true.” His eyes focused on her once again, and then quickly looked back towards the waterfall’s direction. A beat of silence passed between them as the waves rushed past.

“Am I interruptin’ the rest of your time out here? It looks like the sun’s getting low,” she tossed out, noting the slight red hue starting to color the mountainous area around them.

“No, it’s alright.” 

She nodded in reply. After that, they stood for another minute, both just staring off at the setting sun slowly fading into the sky. After a few heartbeats, she turned on her heel to go grab her previously discarded bag. But instead of him staying where he had been sitting to return to his training, she noticed him wordlessly trailing behind her, apparently done for the day. 

She kept her slight confusion at this turn of events inside. At first, neither of them spoke. Bit by bit, the two steadily scaled back down the rocky pass together, her in front with the bag slung once again over her shoulder and him following at a short distance behind. 

Then, she heard Tien’s voice rising up from behind her. “If… I’m being honest.” 

Keeping her surprise in check, Launch turned her head just enough to signal he should continue. 

“Training lately’s been… unproductive. I feel as if even Chiaotzu’s been getting restless with the lack of progress and how often I have to spend extra time concentrating in meditation to try to focus my mind instead of learning properly. Today, I sent him inside halfway through the day.” Although she couldn’t see, a shadow fell on his face as he continued to walk. 

“Well, I doubt he is,” she interjected. “You know he just likes spending time with ya.” _Even if it’s just sitting in silence,_ she thought a bit derisively.

“Perhaps.” He sounded unsure. “Still.” 

They walked on in silence a few moments more. By now, the path had wound down the rockier steep side of the mountains into a grassier pasture below. The rush of the ever-present flow of rapids had faded into the background as they traveled farther and farther away from the gigantic waterfall. After a while, she began to count the footsteps she was taking out of pure boredom. _Forty, forty one, forty two_ _—_

“What good am I if I can’t…” 

Suddenly brought back to the present by the distinctive sound of Tien’s voice but standing far enough ahead that she didn’t hear his words, Launch whipped her head around.

“Huh?” she questioned with a raised eyebrow, worried she had missed something important.

“It’s nothing,” he replied a little louder, face characteristically drawn. When nothing else was said after a few moments, she bit her lip.

 _Shit,_ Launch thought with a hint of worry. She had a feeling something was still wrong, but she had no clue what to say to assuage his fears. It was already rare enough that he had chosen to confide what he did in her. She could screw this up. But her gut pushed her to say something, anything. 

Without giving her fear any further thought, Launch stopped in her tracks and turned around. His footsteps skidding to avoid running into her, Tien blinked a few times as he stood and eyed her with confusion.

“H-Hey, listen. There’s more to life than training, ya know? So don’t beat yourself up over this so much.” _Was that it?_ Speaking the first thing that came to her mind, she held her breath and watched his face. 

But seemingly unsettled by her words, he grimaced and turned away. 

_Shit._

“I may enjoy martial arts, but I do this for something other than my own personal gain. If Earth is attacked, or if we have another threat, there are only a few options available to prevent another catastrophe. I don’t intend to slack off if I’m in any way needed.” 

Shrugging a bit, she acquiesced to his logic. Of course that made sense, but he seemed to be avoiding another point she was trying to make. 

“Yeah, true. I see. I guess I’m just sayin’… do you have anything you do that’s just… a little bit selfish? Like takin’ nice stuff you see just because?” 

_Oh, damn it._ Her words were not coming out right today. Up until now, she had been doing a pretty ok job at not letting him think she was falling into old criminal habits once again. But that last line was pretty damning. Trying to not wince, she waited for his reply. Thankfully, he seemed to be absorbed in the question.

“I…” Opening and then closing his mouth, he stood in frozen silence. Overhead, a bird let out a faint caw. Then, finally, one short word. “No.” 

“Well…” her voice trailed off.

She had to admit, she had no clue what to say. It seemed completely foreign to her to advise a person that didn’t have some sort of want, some sort of deep-seated need, to reach out and grab something for himself, no matter the cost. Was it modesty? Or did he truly not feel that way at all? About anything?

Maybe she could try something different: a hypothetical. Or whatever that word was that Bulma had used once when she was talking about something at Capsule Corp. 

Launch shifted to one leg and jabbed her finger towards him. “If you… let’s say, if you were goin’ to pick something, what would it be?” 

He turned his head towards her and furrowed his brows. “What do you mean?”

“I’m sayin’… if you had to be totally selfish, and pick something that was messy and complicated and wouldn’t be smart to do, and that wasn’t for someone else’s benefit. If it was just purely because ya like it. Like… somethin’ you want, but would make other things worse. What would it be?” 

And then he looked at her. He really looked at her, staring so deeply that she almost didn’t want to blink just so she didn’t break the connection. The strength of his gaze made her breathe a bit slower, getting lost in the warm darkness of his eyes. After what felt like an eternity, he spoke again, softly.

“I can’t think of anything.” 

Groaning, she dropped her head down in a short fit of frustration and then turned back up to look at him directly again. “No, no, ya gotta pick something.” 

“I would never do anything I thought of anyway,” he murmured, suddenly examining the trees swaying in the breeze off the pathway. One of them was scorched and dying, a scar running down the side of the trunk that was likely from a lightning storm. Next to it, the other one grew wild and free, away from the winding vines and the arid soil surrounding it. “Even if I… could think of something. I would never forgive myself.” 

“Yeah, but that’s the point. It’s imaginary. You gotta just… let your imagination run wild.” Was he really not getting this?

She saw him flinch slightly at her words, his face still partially turned away from her. “I don’t like doing that,” he muttered under his breath.

Launch let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Well, damn.” I guess that was the answer she should have expected. But she had no clue where to go from here. He must have known it too, judging by the look on his face. 

“It’s alright. It was kind of you to try,” Tien said gently. “This is my problem, and I’ll find a solution.” With the faintest hint of a smile, he politely walked around her and continued on down the path. 

She stood there blinking for a second. He could be so unreadable at times. 

“Wait up,” she finally called, turning on her heel to catch up.

Maneuvering down the last incline to finally stand on flat ground, she saw the small trail of smoke billowing out of the capsule house, likely signaling a meal being made. A few feet to the left of the door, her trusty motorcycle was parked right where she last left it.

“Time to eat?” she asked as she absentmindedly took the riding gloves she had out of her pocket and started shoving them on. The palms were almost worn completely through, but she still liked the feel of the leather on her fingers.

“It’s possible.” He stopped in place a few paces from the entrance, keeping his eyes on the smoke. “Chiaotzu’s usually done cooking by now.”

“Oh, yeah!” Memories of his last creation sprung to her mind. “Gettin’ the hang of the degrees on the oven?”

“Mostly,” Tien said after a second’s pause. 

She wasn’t in a place to critique anyone’s cooking so she just chuckled a bit and glanced over at her bike. Scratching her head, she gave one final sigh. 

“Well. See ya,” she tossed unceremoniously over her shoulder as she started making her way towards the parked motorcycle. This was pretty much how most visits ended, anyway. It wasn’t odd for her to slip out unnoticed if the mood struck her, so at least there was some sort of farewell this time. Small victories and all that shit. 

“Launch.” 

Something in his voice made her heart skip an extra beat as she turned around. 

Hands clutched behind him, Tien stared directly at her with an oddly intense look in his eyes. 

“Don’t…” 

Suddenly curious what he had to say, she waited in place for him to finish.

“Don’t drive too fast.” 

_False alarm._ Just another way to say goodbye, courtesy of the man who couldn’t stop speaking cryptically if he tried. Not that she minded. 

“No promises!” she scoffed, flashing a smile as she kicked her leg and straddled the seat. 

Flipping the kickstand up with her foot and revving the engine up loud enough to send the few birds resting in the trees flapping wildly out into the sky, she pushed off and drove away. 

The last thing she saw was his figure in the rearview mirror, standing right where she left him.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I'm really hoping this whole fic makes sense lmao. 
> 
> I was challenging myself to write something romantic that took into account Tien's feelings as shown in canon. I always thought it was interesting we saw Launch hanging around and visiting him not only at the capsule house but also on his farm, according to a character blurb for him for one of the recent movies. Taking into consideration they get along on at least a friendly level considering the moments we see in Dragon Ball, he's aware she has romantic feelings towards him and blushes when Oolong suggests something flirty about him and Launch in one DB episode, and can clearly say "no" if he doesn't want someone around (see: the entire Cyborg Tao fight), I tried to think up a logical reason for his actions as we see them. Hopefully the final product wasn't too vague.
> 
> Also, I really appreciate any kudos and comments. You guys rock. Thanks for reading!


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